Maybe Jim Dabakis dropped out of the SLC Mayoral contest a little too early.
A new UtahPolicy.com survey shows two-term incumbent Mayor Ralph Becker may have a fight on his hands in his quest for a third term. According to our survey, Becker pulls 1/3 of support from Salt Lake City Voters. Sen. Jim Dabakis was in second place at 16%. Former Utah Rep. Jackie Biskupski is in 3rd place at 12% while Salt Lake City Council Chair Luke Garrott brings up the rear at 9%. 29% of Salt Lake City voters are undecided.
The survey was conducted before Dabakis announced Wednesday afternoon he was pulling out of the race and throwing his support behind Biskupski.
Dabakis cited polling showing he and Biskupski were pulling support from the same pool of progressives as his reason for leaving the race. Our survey bears that out, but Dabakis beats Biskupski across the ideological spectrum while both mostly trail Becker.
- Among those who say they are "very liberal," Becker 38%, Dabakis 23%, Biskupski 10%, Garrot 8%.
- "Somewhat liberal" – Becker 33%, Dabakis 20%, Biskupski 19%, Garrott 8%
- "Moderate" – Becker 39%, Dabakis 15%, Biskupski 13%, Garrott 6%
- "Somewhat conservative" – Becker 37%, Dabakis 11%, Garrott 8%, Biskupski 5%
- "Very conservative" – Garrott 20%, Becker 19%, Biskupski 16%, Dabakis 4%
One would expect a two-term incumbent mayor to be polling higher than 33% with a little more than 100 days to go until the primary election.
There is some good news for Becker and potentially bad news for Biskupski and Garrott.
When asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable impression of the four candidates, Becker and Dabakis did well while voters said they were unfamiliar with Biskupski and Garrott.
55% said they had a favorable impression of Becker while 23% felt unfavorable toward the two-term mayor.
43% have a favorable impression of Dabakis while just 14% said they viewed him negatively. However, 25% said they had no opinion of him while 19% said they had never heard of the Senator.
28% of voters said they view Biskupski favorably while 10% view her unfavorably. 44% said they had never heard of her.
Garrott had an 18% favorable rating with a 6% unfavorable tally. But, a whopping 52% said they had never heard of him.
Becker's high favorability is good news for him as he seeks a third term, while Dabakis.' 43% approval ranking is somewhat surprising given the polarizing figure he is on Utah's Capitol Hill.
The high number of voters who say they have never heard of Biskupski or Garrott suggests they have a lot of work ahead of them to build name ID before the primary and general election.
The survey was conducted for UtahPolicy.com by Dan Jones and Associates from April 9-15, 2015. 366 registered Salt Lake City voters were contacted via telephone and online means. It has a margin of error of +/- 5.12%
